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helping to prevent fracturing at this critical location. Additionally, the softer secondary ply provides a resilient core that enables the foot to withstand greater shocks without breaking than if it were constructed entirely of hardwood. The essential strength of the 18th-century bracket foot is the glue-blocking inside its corner. In the better pieces, the weight of the case is on these glue blocks and not on the brackets. The blocks are directly below the corners of the case, while the brackets are directly below the base molding. In pieces where the weight is taken by the brackets, the base molding is often broken loose, allowing the case corner to slide downward. The typical glue-blocking in bracket feet is made up of a square, vertical piece glued into the corner formed by the two brackets (photo G). The grain is perpendicular to the horizontal grain of the brackets. Excessive or sudden changes in relative humidity can cause the brackets to shrink, often breaking the glue joint since the block does not shrink in like amount. In some cases the glue-block joint holds and the brackets split at their weak point where the ogee swings inward. After splitting, each segment shrinks unto itself, leaving a gap at the fracture point. Another defect of this construction shows up when the case is moved. If slid along the floor, the foot glue block is liable to catch on an uneven area and snap off. By the mid-18th century, a composite glue-blocking tech- nique that solved these problems had evolved in some London shops. Composite glue-blocking consists of several layers of secondary wood blocks stacked one on the other to build up a vertical foot block. All the grain in the glue blocking runs horizontally, parallel to the grain of the bracket itself. In addition, the blocks are stacked crossgrain, which alternates the grain orientation at the joint between glue-block and bracket-foot member to provide long-grain gluing surfaces to each side of the bracket. The layers are also face-glued together, producing an extremely strong foot (photo H). Scott's pieces combine this feature of foot construction with the laminated bracket, and his is the only American shop known to do so. Several other Williamsburg shops used composite-blocked feet, as did some in Norfolk, Va., and Annapolis, Md. , but to my knowledge, this construction does not make a single appearance in the furniture of Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia or Charleston. In summary, if it is to 18th-century American furniture that the craftsman and designer look for instruction, it is wise to realize that there were various construction methods as well as levels of sophistication. All American production is an offshoot of the English techniques that were most highly developed in London. The transition to America involved some loss or distortion of the original systems. Cabinet shops producing furniture closest to London in style and construction centered in Williamsburg. According to the degree of sophistication in typical case constructions, the other centers range, from high-style to provincial, as follows: Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, Newport, and Boston/ Salem. Other cities should be in this list, but their production has been too little studied to reach definitive conclusions. 0 Wallace Gusler is curator of furniture at Colonial Williamsburg. His book, Furniture of Williamsburg and Eastern Virginia, 17 10-1790 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Box 7260, Richmond, Va. 23221, $24), covers in detail the production of the Scott and other Virgina shops. Post-and-Panel Chests A 19th-century design by Jim Richey drawers we brought home. Once sturdy and clear-finished, it was wobbly and covered with ugly paint. A previous owner had cured its loosened joints by driving nails through the cheeks of the mortises. Proper restoration had to start with complete disassembly. While rebuilding, I realized that the post-and-panel construction of this unadorned country antique is really quite sophisticated and deserves to be better known. It is strong and handsome, and not likely to crack apart over the years. Hundreds of these chests survive: They were made throughout the Ohio River Valley states, of local hardwoods by village cabinetmakers who cared more for function than for fashion. The post-and-panel chest is designed to cope with seasonal humidity changes and long-term panel shrinkage without damage. All the critical dimensions of the chest are determined by long-grain members-posts and rails. Built like a post-and-beam barn, the chest is strong enough to handle the strains of cross-country moving. Yet, there are disadvantages. The joinery is difficult, the material list calls for more and thicker wood than slab-sided construction and the finished chest seems to weigh a ton. The old chest shown on the next page is 44 in. high, E 44Yz in. wide and 20Yz in. deep. The top, front and sides are solid cherry. the back, drawer sides and drawer bottoms are poplar. The side panels are 16 in. wide, cut from a single board. Nowadays, unless you have access to unusually wide, clear stock, you would have to glue up two boards for the side panels. It is also perfectly acceptable to construct two (or more) panels per side with a stile between that's mortised into the top and bottom rails. Authentic 1830 panels are flat on the outside, beveled on the inside. The bevels can be turned to the outside for an attractive, if not authentic, effect. As with all frame-and-panel construction, the panel is left unglued in its groove, free to move as humidity changes. If you decide to adapt the post-and-panel design to a chest project, carefully cut and dry-fit all the joints first. The mortise-and-tenon joints where rail meets post are crucial to a strong chest. Single tenons on the ends of the rails will work, but divided tenons mated with divided mortises are stronger and not much harder to make. Drawbore and peg the mor-. tise-and-tenon joints, if desired, to gain extra strength and to reduce the number of clamps needed for assembly. Don't substitute one horizontal tenon for the two vertical tenons shown in the sketch at the ends of the drawer dividers; a horizontal tenon here won't hold, and it will weaken the posts. Don't try to glue up the carcase all at once. First glue up the more complex side assemblies. The drawer-guide supports (with the drawer guides yet to be screwed on) need not be glued in; the post-and-rail frame will hold them in. With the side assemblies done, you can glue up the back or leave it 53 xperts on antique furniture usually advise, "Buy it and leave it alone." They didn't see the 140-year-old chest of